Endless traveling cutter.



W. V. HADLEY. ENDLESS TRAVELING CUTTER.

APPLIOATION FILED AUG. 14, 1907.

929,087. Patented Ju1 y27, 1909.

INVENTORY A TTORNE Y.

UNITED STATJfi PATENT OFFICE.

WARREN V. HADLEY, OF DAYTON, OHIO.

ENDLESS TRAVELING CUTTER.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, WARREN V. HADLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Dayton, in the county of Montgomery and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Endless TravelingCutters; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figuresof reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My present invention relates to endless traveling cutters, and whileoriginally intended and designed more particularly for harvestingmachinery ;-for which form of application the invention is herein setforth ;is also susceptible in its application and use, in combinationwith suitable actuating means; of being employed to equal ad vantage onlawn-mowers and various other classes of devices and for other purposes,for which the same may be applicable.

The objects or purposes, and advantages of this invention consistprimarily, in producing a cutting device or providing a cutting meansfor harvesting machinery, that will cut or sever the grain more readily,and give more perfect results generally, than the old form of sickles orlong knives now in use, by so constructing my said knives or cutters asto allow or permit of the same being revolved or given a rotary orcircular motion; thus doing away with the obj ectionable pitman andgearing for same, so common to the knives or cutters of all harvestingmachinery, and the objectionable reciprocating motion thus imparted,which produces a jerking, irregular movement, thereby causing a loud,harsh, rattling and rasping noise, and creating a great strain and wearand tear upon the parts, requiring constant attention and necessitatingfrequent repairs.

My rotary or endless cutting chains require very little power, time,labor, and attention or repair: when placed'on harvesting machines orlawn mowers, they lower the cost of manufacture, by doing away withcutter-bars and pitmen The cutting links making up my rotary knives orendless cutting chains, may be quickly disconnected or detached when re-Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 14, 1907.

Patented July 2'7, 1909.

Serial No. 388,471.

moving the chain, or readily joined or connected when placing the chaintogether.

Referring to the annexed illustrations constituting a formal part ofthis specification and wherein the same letters and numerals ofreference are employed to indicate or point out the same parts whereveroccurring throughout the several views Figure 1, is a general viewshowing an endless cutting chain or series of my rotary knives orcutting links inoperative position, as applied to a mover, andsufficient of the actuating mechanism to illustrate one form ofapplication of my invention. Fig. 2, is a plan view of two of thesectional knives or cutting links,composing the endless cutting chain orcutters,-and the connecting or locking-link; in the position they assumewhen being joined: and Fig. 8, is a plan view.partially broken away,-ofthe parts as shown in Fig. 2, but in the position they assume whenjoined or connected in forming the endless cutting chain; and Figs. 4, 5and 6 show respectively; side, perspective and plan viewsv of theconnecting or locking-bar.

In describing in detailthe various mechanical parts of my device whichconstitute my invention, as set forth in the drawing a refers to theknife-sections or cutting-links, each of which is provided with aninclined cutting edge 5, and is slightly-concaved at cfor the purpose offacilitating their passage or travel around the grooved rim or peripheryof a sheave or sheave-sprocket wheel,-while the corners are rounded at das shown, so as to allow said cutting-links being brought together when.making up the chain, also to permit them to travel around a curvedsurface without binding, and as fully and clearly shown in Fig. 2, inwhich the connecting or looking link 6 as shown in dotted'lines brokenaway, has first had its forward key or foot f and catch or toe finserted in rear opening g and recess g (of one of the knife-sections orcutting-links which make up the endless cutting-chain as shown inFig. 1) ;when said connecting or locking-link is turned until rear keyor foot h and catch 72. are next inserted through the forward opening Zand recess Z when by reason of said outting-links being approximatelythe thickness of the space between each catch f and h and the body oflocking-link e, as shown at 9 in Figs. 4: and 5; will allow of the partsto be moved until they assume the position shown in Fig. 3, when thelinks being each sufficiently thick, the forward edge of one link willbear firmly against the rear edge of the link just in front of it, asindicated at 10; while said catches of connecting or locking-link e inconjunction with the body of same, will hold or lock said links inposition as against any displacement, thus holding said edges of saidlinks at 10 in alinement one with the other as fully shown in Figs. 1and 3. It will here be observed that for the purpose of facilitating thetravel of connecting-link 6 over the grain or grass as cut, and so itwill be impossible to thus obstruct, hinder or delay the passage ortravel of said cutting links through said grain or grass as cut, I havepointed and rounded at e the forward end of each of saidconnecting-links.

In Fig. .1, I have shown the, preferred form or style of my rotarysectional knives or endless cuttingchain, as arranged for ap-:

plication to a mowing machine, although the invention may be 'utilizedfor various other purposes and applied to various other devices, and itis obvious and will become quite apparentthatmy endless cutting chainmay be operated by many and various other forms of actuating -mechanism.I have however here shownpartially in dotted lines and omitting theteeth of the gears for clearness;one style of actuating mechanism,. inwhich I, indicates the main shaft which is shown as broken away, butwhich in practice connects 'with a sprocket and chainor any othersuitable means by which the power is transmitted to said shaftlocatedinany. suitable supportingfrarne 7c,upon whiclrismounted a bevelgearwheel Z in mesh 1 with double; bevel .gear wheel m, mounted on shaftn having a hinged support in 'bearingarmsN projecting from an ordinaryshoe P: said double bevel gear. wheel inturn in mesh with bevel gearwheel ;0 rigidly mounted upon theshaft of'main sheave sprocket wheel. Q,by which motion is trans mitted to, anddrives said sheave-sprocket wheelaround, which carries and passes my endless cutting-chain 15, thusdriving said chain in the direction indicated by the arrows, and aroundsheave sprocket wheel 7- supported by finger bar R';which latter is inturn connected by bolts to shoe P. Finger-guardss project from saidfinger-bar in theusual manner, and also a small guard-25 which isconnectedto the inner face oft-he or contour,-only slightly larger-thanthe keys f and 72, formed with the catches f and IP- which are one justlike the other; thus allowing of said keys and their catches to readilypass through each opening and its recess; and that while said keysandcatches; it

are arranged on each of said locking-links in longitudinala11nement,sa1d openings and recesses do not come in alinement, butarearranged as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

Having now carefully illustrated,. and;

clearlywdescribed my rotary knives or endless cutting-chains; whatlclaim as my invention 11s l. The combination in an endless cutting chainof the cutting links each having a knife edge and provided with recessedopen-' ings; and the connecting links each formed-- with a point andprovided with keys, each of said keys being provided with a catch, eachof said catches being adapted to be inserted in one/of said recessedopenings, thereby locking said cutting-links in a position continuousone with the other; all substantially in the manner scribed.

2. An endless cutting. chain having cutting-links each of which .isprovided with a and for'the purposes deknife or cutting edge, and formedWith rounded corners and a concaved portion, and a further formed withopenings each being semi-circular and having a straight recess therein,the recess of one coming at an angle to the-recess of the other opening;all sub- M stantially as. described.

3.. In an endless cutting-chain, a locking link for connecting andholding thecuttingr.

linksof said chain together, said locking-' link being rounded toa pointat one end and 1 provided with keys,-each of whichisrformed with a.toe-or catch; substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof, I aff x my signature,

in presence of two witnesses.

WARREN V. HADLEY. Witnesses:

T. J. PERRIN, ELANORA G. HADLEY.

